Christ and the Public School

Let me get to the point quickly: If Christians left the public school sector – it would fall apart at the seams. Opinion you ask? No! That’s a fact! In my twelve years in an inner city, multi-racial public school I have witnessed personally the desperate need public education has for moral, biblical principles. Thank God that Christians still believe enough in this battleground to not run away to Christian schools exclusively. Abandoning the countless children who are desperate for a principled, right and wrong life that homes across the country have failed to provide would be an abomination to scriptural mandates with damaging consequences.

I love the school where I work. I love the students. Some of the kids I work with have shown more courage in a given day than my life will ever require of me. I have been in their homes and have talked with adults who are supposed to be taking care of them. Many struggle in school to a degree many would find unbelievable. Many come to school hungry and sleepy from long – frightening nights. Many reluctantly leave from school every afternoon and go back home – if you can call it that. Their lives are unstable, unhappy, scary places with adults who have lied to them and left them to fend for themselves. And they will come back here tomorrow and start over again.

Should Christians take the contemporary approach of isolating themselves from all “evil” influences of our society – I fear public schools will be first place Christ is abandoned. Modern evangelism seems satisfied to travel to the far ends of the earth to hand out “Jesus Videos” while forsaking the public school around the corner. It seems modern Christianity has lost sight of the mission field that is the public schools and have forsaken the social change they could effect by not only not abandoning public schools but by embracing it with love and biblical standards. The social consciousness of faith founders like John Calvin who worked to begin police and fire departments has been absolutely lost on the new generation of big church fanatics who continue to pat themselves for a job well done. Fill the auditorium and God must be overjoyed. But, get your kids out of that public school as quick as you can.

I have a question. Where did all the parents who are bashing away at public education go to school? I can’t remember a single child I grew up knowing who was “home schooled”. Everyone went to either public or parochial schools and most seem to turn out more than alright. I have been equally amused hearing so-called education experts bash public schools and promote continual change and reform. It seems they did fine with public education – enough so they are now in positions of leadership. Either they’re education was not as bad as they would have us believe or they need to step down from their positions and start over.

We have a lot of problems here in the school where I work. We have teachers who don’t care and should be doing something else entirely with their lives. There are also far too many children who are not successful academically. These are things that need to be fixed and we are working on it. I would argue that public educators are the most scrutinized workers in the United States. Public schools and their teachers are so pressured to raise student test scores – many are opting out early. It is a tough business.

We do not have the things I hear Christians up in arms over. We have never handed out condoms, promoted abortion or the gay lifestyle. To group my school with all public schools is unfair – even slanderous. The Christians who work in this system will not allow that to happen. Again, I thank God that Christ is still influencing decisions in the public schools. I pray that never ends.

So Christ is still here. Prayer has never left this place and as long as Christians don’t abandon it – never will. The Christian teachers in my building go home at night praying for these kids they love so much. Many pay for clothing and other needs such as Christmas gifts out of their own meager paychecks. These public school students are prayed for by Christian students at church on Sunday and Wednesday nights. Christian students are praying over their lunches and others are watching and wondering why. I have seen Christian students display more boldness for Christ in this school than I have seen anywhere – ever. I pray their parents don’t send them somewhere else.

I only wish we had more active Christian parents who would be involved in our school decisions, PTO, school board meetings, sports programs, and classrooms. I would like to call Christian families to embrace their public schools in a way that would bring real change in our world.

I believe it was Thomas Jefferson who argued that without public education we could not have a democracy. Public education will be around as long as our country allows a government by the people, for the people. It scares me to hear Christian friends of mine talk about the danger of public education and promote home schooling as if it is a biblical mandate. Christian friend I ask that you not pull your child out of our school. Come in and help us change things – change lives and change the world.

The China Syndrome
by Michael Spencer

On my way out of Kentucky Wesleyan College, I took a course in the history of Asia. The capable Dr. Wayne Metz managed to get me through the torture of names I couldn’t pronounce and a formidable level of ignorance to an “A” and, more importantly, some appreciation of how Asia fits into this complex world of ours. While I’ve forgotten the majority of that class, I have never forgotten one point: The Chinese fervently believe in their own superiority, and pursue their ends with that premise in mind.

Every nation carries its own stereotypical view of the rest of humanity, but you would have to look hard to find a nation more convinced that the rest of us are inferior than the Chinese. For millennia, China ignored the rest of the planet. Its interaction with other nations has consistently been conducted from the viewpoint of its own interests, which were premised on the polite idea that the rest of us are barbarians. Such notions seem amusing to many Westerners, who point out that China is not a true world power apart from its massive population. Chinese notions of cultural superiority are simply absurd, from our view.

Recent world history should cause thoughtful people to consider the outworking of this notion. China’s communist revolution yielded a violent government, with little interest in the good will of the rest of the world. Americans watched Nixon court the Chinese for strategic and economic reasons, but Tibet and Tiennamen Square remind us of China’s real character. We talk about the opening up of China, and even the “moderating” of the Chinese government, all the while dissidents and religious groups are outlawed and imprisoned. Many Americans, like Bill Clinton, seem to think that if they make our Nikes, they must like us and want to be like us. On such rocks, fools sink. China is China. They are building nuclear missiles that can reach our shores. Hello.

The current situation presents the real China to all who care to notice. The plane was in International air space. To the Chinese, that hardly matters. We were collecting intelligence on them and so they were wronged. Their planes scrambled and aggressively intimidated our plane, causing a needless death of a Chinese pilot. They have stripped the plane of its intelligence equipment in violation of treaties and are holding the crew (as of this writing) for who knows what purpose. They are demanding an apology for all this, and making it clear that they do not care if this becomes and international incident. The people who made off with most of our nuclear secrets are on their high horse about intelligence gathering. Puhleese.

Without a doubt, this situation will be resolved, but with maximum embarrassment to the United States, and in a manner totally adverse to the economics interests of China. The Chinese government doesn’t care because they believe we are weak and stupid. They believe that while they hold a trial of American soldiers, American business interests will go right ahead as usual. After the generosity of Bill Clinton, I don’t really know why the Chinese need any more American intelligence, but they will pursue this crisis with complete disregard for political consequences, because they believe we are spineless and will be knocking on their door the day after its over. Given American behavior toward China the last four decades, they are probably right.

I see this crisis as the first real defining moment of the Bush Presidency. The Chinese knew what they had in Bill Clinton- an ally and a customer. In George W., the Chinese probably think they have a president with no little mandate, too little experience, too little support and too much economic turmoil to mount a strong response to their behavior. The question is, what do they really have in George W. Bush? An adversary who will play hard and fair, even if it means economic shock waves? Or another American leader who listens to polls and market numbers rather than principles.

The President is right to work through diplomatic channels and is right to give the Chinese the opportunity to look civilized. But, since they won’t take the opportunity, he should set a deadline and begin shutting down American economic interests in China. And while he may not want to give an “evil empire” speech, he should take to the Bully Pulpit and remove the layer of civilized respectability protecting the Chinese. Call them what they are: a communist dictatorship operating in disregard for human rights and international law. Cancel state visits and shut some doors.

Economic policy often appeals to American selfishness. Foreign policy appeals to American ideals. We cannot view China through the lens of the latest poll of Nasdaq numbers. We must do what’s right, in the short term and in the long term. The Chinese are already playing to win. They are determined to one day be our economic and military equals, or masters. If we treat them as anything less than a hostile adversary, we are naive.

Common Decency Butchered
by Michael Spencer

In her withdrawal speech, Chavez surrounded herself with people whom she had helped, allowing each one to put a human face on the Democrat spin. No matter what the Jesse Jacksons of the world may say, Americans will recognize in Chavez the same kind of neighborly compassion that is enshrined in the best of our communities and families. Democrats may have taken Chavez out of the game, but the tactics used will not score any points with anyone who ever gave a moment’s thought to what it means to be a good person.

The party of welfare has spoken clearly. There is no difference, in their minds, between a nanny and chauffer for Zoe Baird, and a friend asking you to help an abused immigrant woman survive until she can get on her feet. Chavez was proud to say she would do it all again, “in an instant, without hesitation.” I stood to applaud and I doubt that I was alone.

Remember “Values Clarification,” the secular moral education craze of the seventies and eighties? One of the classroom exercises involved putting a moral dilemma in front of the students and hearing their individual resolutions. Can anyone imagine what a group of third graders would say is the right thing to do when a friend calls and asks a well-off American woman to help a destitute and abused immigrant? And would they change their answer if that immigrant was here illegally? What Democrat parent would teach their child that Chavez should have called the INS and obeyed the law?

Liberals tend to think that Americans are easily duped by labeling, and to a certain extent, there is evidence that is true. Americans are often quick to believe the worst about anyone in public life. But Americans are also people who give twenty bucks to their neighbor when he’s out of work. Americans are people who loan a spare bedroom to their son’s friend who’s been put out of the house. Americans are people who drive their neighbors to church and send over a bag of groceries to the widower down the road. They won’t believe Linda Chavez was wrong to do what she did. They will believe that Democrats are rank, heartless hypocrites. Here, here.

For my nickel, Chavez should have held the news conference, let her friends talk, and then told her liberal critics to eat her Hispanic conservative dust. It concerns me that Dubya may have green lighted this pull-out in order to keep the tone civil and lessen the pressures on other Cabinet choices, especially John Ashcroft. I hope he responds with a clearly conservative choice and gives the Democrats no pay-off for their butchering of common decency.

In the meantime, write your Democrat congresspersons a letter, and tell them just how far out in the liberal sea their little boat has drifted. So far, they apparently can’t see the shores of America’s compassionate heart.

Mariah in Oz
by Michael Spencer

Celebrity might arguably be called America’s favorite religion. The amount of energy, money, time and trouble invested in the adoration of celebrities surpasses almost any public display of religion in America. Secularists and humanists may wince at the shenanigans of religious fanatics, but the sort of hoopla that accompanies the cult of celebrity makes even Pentecostals look like Stoics. Americans scream at their celebrities, imitate them, stalk them, read about them, adorn themselves with their image, canonize their every saying and general make entertainers and athletes every bit the equals of the gods of Olympus.

Oddly, Americans also like their celebrities to crash, burn, self-destruct and otherwise go through as much hell as possible. Case in point: Mariah Carey, pop diva and apparently, one depressed and disillusioned young lady. Ms. Carey has dominated the headlines recently not for her likely oscar-caliber performance in something called “Glitter,” but for her spiral into mental illness and hospitalization. I will refer readers to the generally sane account of Mariah’s troubles in the August 13 Time Magazine for a needed separation of fact from internet inflated hype. As I have listened and read, it appears to me that somewhere in the buzz is the interesting tidbit that Ms. Carey, a certified workaholic, control freak and extraordinary vocalist, has discovered that the Emerald City is, alas, an illusion. On her way down, she was mumbling about the sham of it all!

Yes, America, Oz is just a lot of curtains, lighting crews and special effects. It’s a city of press releases and “Making of…” specials. After the multi-million dollar contracts and the obligatory film roles, (Why do singers do this? Think Elvis, Elvis, Elvis) it’s a sham. That’s right folks. Tinseltown is, uh, tinsel. And Mariah saw it clearly- just before they locked her up.

One of my psych professors once uttered the truism that “Sanity is whoever has the keys,” or to state the converse, “Crazy is whatever the people with the keys say it is.” Increasingly, the keepers of the cultural illusion of celebrity have attempted to say that the ridiculous images of celebrity superiority sent across the world are reality and you are crazy if you doubt it. Apparently, Ms. Carey, in the midst of her ninth album and third movie, began to doubt this orthodoxy and began to say so. Careful, girl, worse things than a hospital stay could happen to you if you start seeing the emperor has no clothes.

Is it possible that it’s actually a relatively healthy urge that keeps Americans watching the endless versions of “Behind the Music” that rehearse the decline of celebrities to the level of savages before finding salvation in rehab and oldies tours? Are we telling ourselves “Hey, I’m actually doing better than all those famous guys! I’ve sortof got it together in comparison to millionaires in hoc to the IRS drinking themselves to death rather than go through another heroin rehab.” As painful as it is to admit, I think the public fascination with the self-demolition of celebrities may serve a good purpose: we see the truth that money, power, fame, movies and headlines don’t rescue you from being a miserable idiot.

Mariah, call Meat Loaf. You all remember Meat, right? The oversized and over-emoted singer of “Bat Out of Hell” parts 1-50. According to a superb celebrity bio that I watched on VH-1, Meat really has been to hell and back. And guess what? He now has it figured out. Wife. Daughters. Some steady work. Lots of gratitude for being alive and lots of forgiveness for the mistakes along the way. He’s dropped a few pounds and he has a nice smile. Mariah, the guy was truly nuts at one point, but he made it through. Now he’s dull, doing oldies, and happy enough to live to 120 if nobody gets in the way. Hint, hint.

There are a lot of people like that, and most of them aren’t celebrities. They are the guy who fixes your car, the lady who serves your kid in the lunchroom, the elderly woman next door, the young man building cabinets for your kitchen. Unknown to you, they made it through all kinds of hell that will never be on television. They will never write a song about it. They simply discovered life is a gift, an incredibly resilient gift. It bounces back, and often gets a lot better.

It would do Mariah’s fans a lot of good for her to recover and say what she was saying before they locked her up. The music biz, the celebrity cult, the illusion of diva-hood and all the rest of it is a lie telling all of us we need applause, attention and money to be really happy. Fact is, a good hot fudge cake at Jerry’s does it for me. And hundreds of things that cost a lot less than that. Happiness is whatever you decide it is. And it can be very simple indeed.

Those of us who know something of true happiness need to remind the screaming, tattoo-covered cultists that misery loves company, and happiness does just fine alone. Mariah, believe it. Try it. You may have wound up in the wrong place, but I think you might have started on the right road.

What I Saw at the Revolution
Trading a heritage of Worship Music for a lukewarm bowl of CCM
by Michael Spencer

NOTE: It is now apparent than some people cannot read this article without applying it to their church and getting mad at me. Listen, forget about your church and forget about me and just read/react/think/write/live whatever truth is here. After 3 decades of using CCM in my ministry, I get to write a few paragraphs about my soured relationship with it. It’s not about you- unless it is about you. And that’s not about me.

• • •

Not too many months ago, I had the opportunity to lead my “congregation” of high school students in a chapel service of worship music. Realizing that they had learned many new songs in the past few months, I purposely selected songs that were popular with these students two and three years ago. After leading the service, a student came up to me and said something I have never forgotten. “I sure like the old songs, Mr. Spencer.”

Such is the frantic pace of change in contemporary worship music, that “As the Deer” is now one of the “old” songs. Seniors in high school and their grandparents have this in common: they both love the old songs, songs that are rapidly being replaced..

The revolution in worship music that is now tearing up thousands of evangelical churches and rousing generational civil war in many evangelical families has been brewing for some time. The first identifiable “praise choruses” were appearing in the fifties, and the musical revolution of the sixties, largely confined to “youth services,” musicals and “coffeehouses,” never seemed to disturb churches to the extent we are seeing today. In the Jerry Falwell-style Southern Baptist church of my teenage years, drums and contemporary music were welcome in youth services and occasional choir performances, probably because no one ever thought of turning these occasional forays into pop culture into the regular Sunday morning service. Long haired kids in sandals, filling up the front pews on Sunday night, made the church look evangelistic, but we kept our music to ourselves. It was the age of “Jesus People,” and any church would bend over to have a few more young people in the services, but no one was inviting us to bring the band into the choir loft.

In the late sixties and seventies, CCM was growing and taking root in the heart of an entire generation of young Christians. Among those of us listening to Larry Norman, Petra and Resurrection Band, there was plenty of talk of how this music helped us in our walk with God and made our faith more relevant and appealing to our generation, but no one ever thought about such music becoming the standard fare for Sunday morning worship. One of my good friends, a guitarist who loved Kiss and Elton John, always resisted CCM just because of its oddity: neither rock and roll nor worship music, he couldn’t appreciate it. Today he is the lead guitarist, playing in his church’s Sunday morning worship band.

CCM itself seemed to be avoiding such a confrontation. In my vast collection of CCM LPs from these days, one does not find many “worship albums” with music specifically designed for church worship settings. Even Maranatha recordings originally seemed comfortable occupying the CCM niche of personal entertainment, edification and evangelism, not public worship. But that was all about to change.

I’m sure CCM artists began to include “worship” segments in their sets fairly early, but I would suggest it was the Christian music festival that probably first saw the plausibility of a movement of CCM into the realm of congregational worship music. I attended 18 years of “Ichthus” festivals at Wilmore, Kentucky during the seventies and eighties, and I recall the “worship” segments led by Michael Card and Rich Mullins, usually during the communion service. These were powerful corporate worship experiences, and the implications of those experiences were clear to all present: we needed to take this back home to our churches.

Today, musical groups that would have been seen as evangelistic missionaries in the seventies and eighties are put forward primarily as “worship bands,” writing music for the consumption of the local church. Third Day and delirious? are two examples of this phenomenon. Artists like Matt Redmond are top of the CCM charts with an overt mission of writing for corporate worship. Even established CCM artists like Michael W. Smith have gravitated towards worship music, and Christian radio has followed. A couple of hours listening to “K-Love” will reveal a hefty diet of music that one is likely to hear again on Sunday morning.

CCM’s move towards becoming the leaders of musical worship in the local church is unprecedented and significant. This is because of the nature and assumptions that lie behind CCM. Few have the courage to point out these realities, and those who do, like the courageous and truthful Steve Camp, are vilified as party poopers. I would beg my readers to consider these realities, and not to simply follow the “knee-jerk” reaction of so many Christians who are unable to critique anything they personally like.

CCM is a commercial enterprise, owned largely by secular corporate interests, and certainly driven by the values of the entertainment industry more than those of the church. It is part of the entertainment culture, and only partially related to the culture of classic, orthodox Christian tradition. CCM has virtually no accountability to the larger Christian tradition, or even the Christian musical tradition. (A list of the “One Hundred Greatest Songs in Christian Music” shows no awareness of traditional gospel, country, Black gospel, Southern gospel or classical music. Odd, ignorant and sad.) As an industry, it has no accountability to the larger church and only rarely any accountability to the local church (with some refreshing exceptions.) It has no standards of doctrinal orthodox, and resists any notion that its lyrics may at times promote error and even heresy. Its only accountabilities are to itself, and to its own commercial interests. In many instances, it has proven to be an arrogant business; with a small vision of success and a haughty attitude towards its custumers.

This must be understood to appreciate the game that is played in saying that the CCM product is anointed by God for renewing worship in the local church, a claim that is made weekly in thousands of churches where worship leaders are attempting to replace traditional worship music with CCM. On what basis is such a statement made? I would suggest it is made like virtually every other statement in Christian music: it is made on the basis of how much music is being sold. If the music were not succeeding commercially, such a statement would never be made. If “As the Deer” were as commercially popular as “Immortal, Invisible,” we would never hear anyone say God had sent such a song to rescue the worship of the church.

In fact, the claim that CCM is drawing in thousands of new worshipers is patently false. Like so many claims made by the corporate pushers of evangelical products, the statement applies to those churches and individuals who buy the product, while non-consumers are erased from the picture. A jump in sales of the product is announced as the endorsement of God. In actual fact, overall attendance in America’s churches has declined at about the same rate as the ascendancy of CCM as the standard worship fare. I am not pleading cause and effect, because the roots of this decline in local church worship are much deeper than music. Still, the claim of a worship renewal is false and misleading.

So what is being called a worship renewal is, in actual fact, a commercial revolution within CCM. On other levels, such as the unity of the church, the “worship renewal” is the most divisive thing to come along since the first outbreaks of “speaking in tongues” in mainline and traditional evangelical churches. Listening to senior adults talk about what is happening in many of their churches, one cannot help but be saddened by the bull-headed tactics and selfishness of some pastors and worship leaders who have decided to cast aside the worship preferences of whole age groups in order to get some hands in the air and some bodies swaying. As a local church minister for twenty-seven years, I have worked with every age group including senior adults and teenagers and their parents. What is happening in churches who are uncritically embracing the CCM takeover of local worship is one of the most thoughtless and hurtful set of decisions I have ever observed. I can only pray that persons of good will, common sense and a love of unity in the church will quickly prevail before the damage is irreparable.

For example, in one large church of my acquaintance, the staff has, over a period of seven years, eliminated the hymnal, the organ, the acoustic piano and exiled hymn-singing to the senior adult fellowship. Sunday evenings, once a service where pastors could teach scripture to the faithful, are now frequently given over entirely to concert formats where young people dance and do all the expected behaviors of a club set. To say this overlooks and estranges whole generations is an understatement. And the changes were made with breath-taking swiftness, alerting the older generation that it was “my way or the highway” as far as worship style goes. Inter-generational worship, once a solid strength of the church, is now a forgotten part of the past.

In addition to embracing the CCM revolution, the current crop of church leaders has taken up an entire novel and rather bizarre theology and practice regarding music in worship. One will hear worship leaders speak of the Holy Spirit descending into the room as the music is lifted up. Music now apparently “prepares” the congregation for the teaching of the Word, softening up those hard hearts. The new music is frequently equated with some sort of spiritual “river,” bringing an anointing or spiritual renewal to those who will join in the music. This is all, to be blunt, silly and superstitious. I now meet dozens of untalented and undiscipled young people, often living lives of serious immaturity and even immorality, whose stated goal is to follow a call from God into a successful career in CCM. Suddenly, God is apparently wanting to flood America with more CCM artists in need of our financial support. How blessed we are.

Repetition has become an issue even in churches that endorse the worship revolution, as songs are sung over and over and over, with the seeming intent of the emotional manipulation of the congregation. The picture of a swaying, eyes-closed, semi-conscious worshiper is now the picture of the goal of much current worship leadership. The new style encourages public, individual demonstrations of piety, a phenomenon that always divides a congregation into the “truly” spiritual and the dead wood. Of course, such a distinction based on who will raise hands and sway is absurd, but that has not stopped some worship leaders from coming to resemble a cheerleading Richard Simmons, urging demonstrations of enthusiasm that are often never scripturally required of any worshiper. Now, of course, God wants us to applaud everything.

Of most concern to this writer is the blatant emotional manipulation that has become common in much of this music. To call names, much music from the Vineyard particularly seems fascinated with romantic imagery and language, and images of physical affection. Fully aware of the dysfunctional family experiences of many worshipers, the music often plays directly upon this wound, seeking an emotional outpouring that will be labeled as “healing”. A similar awareness of the sexual proclivities of this generation seems to lie behind other songs, with a similar goal of emotional transference. One must commend those contemporary worship writers who stick close to the language of the Psalms and write solid, God centered lyrics.

The turn of some contemporary worship writers towards romanticism and the language of Oprah-esque psychology is not unexpected, since the sheer amount of music being published is immense, and the pressure to create new worship “hits” increases as well. With the constant demand for new songs growing as the movement grows, the subject matter of worship songs often ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous, from the heavenly to the very earthly. It is interesting to hear a defense of romanticism in lyrics with a reference to Song of Solomon. The Song of Solomon is touted as an equally appropriate source of worship inspiration as the Psalms. One wonders why these advocates cannot see the wisdom of the church in avoiding songs about, “Lord, I want to grab your fruit” or “Lord, take me back to your bedchamber.” Yet, with the focus on romanticism, such lyrics often do not seem that far away from plausibility.

Before the contemporary worship revolution, the “canon” of worship music was relatively stable. I grew up with one hymnal, which was well used but certainly not exhausted. My church has a new hymnal and I can see it will take us years to explore it. In the past, the canon of “extra-hymnalic” material was rather small. Today, the congregation may be allowed to develop favorite songs, but they can count on being bombarded with new songs virtually every week, culled from vast databases of new music downloaded into the computers that have replaced the hymnals of the past. I am not hesitant at all to say that it makes one long for a revival of psalm-singing, so that the average worshiper would only have to master the Psalter, and not the “new anointed hit of the week.” Justifying such passive acceptance of commercially driven innovation as “singing a new song to the Lord” is, frankly, dumb.

Consider this: Robbing the children of such churches of the heritage of Christian hymnody is a serious deficiency. I am working with the young people produced by such churches, and they are a generation looking for a kickin’ band and a song with good hand motions. As a former youth minister, I recall the days when such interest was desired in our youth groups, but only on Saturday night in the youth center. That such evaluations would come to dominate regular public worship is a measure of what has happened. I note with predictable irony that virtually every baby boomer I know evaluates churches based on their band, music and projection system. Spurgeon would be in trouble.

Today, I consider teaching the heritage of great hymns to these young people to be among the most important aspects of my worship leadership and ministry, because I am reconnecting them with a great cloud of witnesses and a heritage that belongs to all the church of all times, not just to Americans in LA and Nashville.

In part II of this article, I will discuss the Biblical principles of worship that I believe should guide the overall public worship of God, including music. My point so far: the evangelical church has thrown away its musical heritage in order to buy into the commercial and cultural values of CCM. While CCM has some limited effectiveness as a vehicle for communication within our culture, its primary value is entertainment, and as such it has infected evangelicalism with a virus that may prove deadly to our survival as a worshiping community.

Choosing the Better Wounds
by Michael Spencer

Having been involved in ministry with teenagers for twenty-seven years, I read the recent reports of child sex abuse and a wide-spread cover up by the Roman Catholic hierarchy with more than passing interest. I have always lived with the uncomfortable awareness that even one charge of inappropriate behavior could ruin what has been, to this point, a very satisfying career. At the same time, I cannot help but have my own reaction to what I am hearing, and that reaction is colored by my “years in the business” as well.

Like everyone who hears these stories of repeated incidents of abuse and repeated cover-ups, I find such behavior deplorable and inexcusable. If proven, those who sexually abused teenagers should be punished to the full extent of the law, no matter what their age or position. Those bishops and other officials who reassigned the offending priests bear a responsibility as well, and they should resign out of common decency. There is no reason not to prosecute these men as well if they enabled and protected such behavior.

Please be aware of this as you read the rest of this column, because it may be possible to misunderstand my point that I have some reasoned doubts about all that we are hearing. Not doubt that such things happen, but doubts about the motives of those pursuing these charges and doubts about the exceptional nature of the incidents.

It’s my opinion that the Roman Catholic Church is the most hated single institution in America. Its values run counter to almost all the dominant cultural avatars. Its stands for male clergy, celibacy, and the pro-life position on abortion are enough to earn it the venom of millions. Add to this the suspicion and prejudice of millions of Protestants, and the general hostility of those who dislike religion in general, and you have a situation where I would not be surprised at this type of accusation. That is not to say I am a disbeliever, but only to say that I am not prepared to overlook the fact that there is a declared war on the Roman Catholic Church from several corners in our society, and it is naive to think that none of these charges come from that quarter.

Now I am not asserting the innocence of the church in these matters, but I am going to suggest that if similarly hostile critics were to look at any other institution where adult men and teenage boys are put together on a regular basis, one would find many similar incidents. Without raising any accusations, I would say that the public education system, the Boy Scouts, community sports teams, and my profession, the protestant ministry, would all have generous contributions of wrongdoing to be uncovered. And we may see this very soon, as the same forces hostile to traditional values begin to focus on other targets.

Now wait a moment, you say. These are particular and repeated incidents of sexual offenders transferred from church to church, protected by the system and allowed to ruin lives with no real accountability. Surely, Mr. Spencer, you are not trying to say everybody does this? Well, I am saying that this is a human behavior, and not a Catholic behavior. And I have good reason to think it is quite common.

I am not trying to stir up a stew, but I am aware of some in my profession who took advantage of young women sexually. These men were not prosecuted, but politely allowed to move on, and in all the cases I am aware of, to continue ministry in other settings. I am aware of similar occurrences in both public and private education, instances where parents were talked to, individuals were quietly dismissed or corrected, and no charges filed. I think many people of my generation are aware of teachers, coaches and ministers who engaged in inappropriate behavior, and managed to walk away with the assistance of persons in authority. In fact, I would go so far as to say this sort of behavior is common enough to have occurred in numbers comparable to the situation in the RCC, though I think the extent of repetition and reassignment are clearly unprecedented.

Now, an even more difficult thing for me to say is that I think we must admit that the culture of sexuality has changed in the last 40 years in ways that in no way excuse the behavior, but at least suggest we should consider some of the reactions in context. For example, I had a shop teacher in junior high school who liked to pat boys on the backside. It was a friendly pat, always accompanied by, “How ya doin’ fellas?” Now today, such behavior would be outrageous and would certainly result in lawsuits, dismissal, perhaps even arrest. We laughed at it. We laughed at it a lot. While I suspect this had more of a meaning to the teacher than it did to us, I never met a boy who took it as something other than a harmless idiosyncrasy. I have no reason to think that teacher ever harmed anyone, so this is sheer speculation, but the culture of the time would have handled a complaint about this man entirely differently than today. He would have been corrected, perhaps moved, but no one would have embarrassed the school or the community with a major crusade.

It was a different time. Naive to the realities of sexual abuse? Probably, but it was what it was, and we have to remember this when considering the reaction of the church at the time. The effects of sexual abuse were not known and feared as they are today, and an administrator who protected the institution and kept the story out of the papers felt he had simply carried out prudent problem-solving.

Those within the RCC and the larger Christian family who are assuming all these charges are true (and they may be) have their own agendas as well. Some want the clergy to be opened up to women. Many want the rule of celibacy to be lifted. Others want a perceived “gay ruling elite” to be exposed and removed, while others simply feel the bishops must be unempowered. With a change of popes not far off, it is a good time to press for changes and reforms in the church, but I would suggest those who would use this situation for these agendas are making a mistake. Scandal can be the breeding ground of reform, but not if our allies are the enemies of the church.

Which brings me to the point that these scandals provide an opportunity for us to confess one of the great blind spots of the church: its inability to admit its institutional sinfulness. To acknowledge that we are fallen persons is not hard, but to admit that all the deceitfulness of the human heart is multiplied within our institutions is much harder. We seem to endow our institutions with an absurd degree of infallibility, especially considering that conservatives particularly should be suspicious of the idolatry of any human system. Institutional evil not only exists in the hearts of persons who make up a church, it exists within the system itself, and manifests itself in particularly surprising ways. As far as I know, fallen human organizations cannot be redeemed, though the persons who make them up may.

So we should not wait for the world to discover our flaws and drag us through the streets in derision. Christians should police themselves, and not condemn those who do that good work. Remember the heat Cornerstone Magazine took for exposing Mike Warnke as a fraud? Or the continual criticism of Christian Research Institute for exposing the follies of the Word-Faith circus? You would think that the televangelist scandals of the eighties would have helped us appreciate that we need some accountability within the body of Christ. But Christians tend to be the worst at saying we are all sinners and therefore no one has the right to call anyone else an offender. This has allowed all sorts of ridiculous abuses and crimes to go on while plenty of people knew what was happening, but no one wanted to pull the cord and stop the train.

The scandals in the RCC have exposed the rottenness of Christian institutional blindness again, and I cannot say I am surprised. The RCC’s hierarchical structure makes the whole matter worse, since those charged with being shepherds are apparently too sympathetic to the plight of the wolves, at least as it affects the institutional church. Those of us in other ministries and institutions should learn from what is happening and speak honestly to one another about what we know is true. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. (Proverbs 27:6) We may not want to admit that the same problems currently embarrassing the RCC exist in our institutions, but we all know they do. What we don’t know is if we will be more forthcoming in admitting them and taking steps of repentance before the world befriends those we have overlooked and calls us to account.

Why Calvin Is Cool
An Infomercial for Calvinism
by Michael Spencer

UPDATE: Even though I am no longer a Calvinist, a lot of this essay is still true. I know that’s Calvin Coolidge, but if I put a picture of John Calvin up there, most people won’t read the column. The hostility towards Calvinism is growing here in Bibleland. Note the intrepid Dave Hunt’s attempt to vanquish the Calvinistic dragon with his new book, What Love Is This?, perhaps more aptly titled, What Research Is This? Norman Geisler unsuccessfully sought to forge a via media in Chosen, But Free and Gregory Boyd and the Openness Boys (great name for a band) have been blasting away for several years now against the monstrosity of the Calvinistic God and an Augustinian theodicy. I recently attended a debate between Calvinist and Arminian seminary profs, and I have to say that Jerry Walls was vewy, vewy upset that God could save everyone and apparently isn’t going to do so. He was also mad that John Piper said he would still love God even if one of his sons wasn’t elect. And, of course, C.S. LEWIS WASN’T A CALVINIST! So I think silent Cal is a better choice than Geneva John. These are dangerous times. You could possibly get burned at the stake. (That’s a joke.)

• • •

I’ve never been naive about what people thought about Calvinism. It’s always been controversial, hence that little party called the Reformation and the counter-party called the Remonstrance and the rave known as Revivalism. In my kid’s history textbooks, Calvinists and Puritans are witchburners. Period. When I began hanging out with Calvinistic Southern Baptists in the “Founders” movement, it had some of the trappings of a secret society. There were lots of people keeping their heads low and their mouths shut in order to survive in Southern Baptist land. And at my current assignment, rumors of my Calvinism have been my only real trouble in ten years, and that even though the founder of our school was an out and out card-carrying five-pointer with no shame about saying so.

A few years ago our state denominational newspaper discovered Southern Baptist Calvinism and went on a ten-year windmill tilt against it. It was enormous fun to read what Arminian revivalistic evangelists had to say about Calvinism, based upon their extensive experience and research. (I concluded the in-depth tape series of Jimmy Swaggart on Calvinism was behind it all.) I was surprised to discover that Southern Baptists had no Calvinistic roots or influences (which seemed odd given the overwhelming historical record of just exactly that fact.) I learned that Spurgeon was not really a Calvinist. (It seems particularly galling for Arminians to come to grips with this one.) I learned that despite all those years of preaching, I was against missions and evangelism, and that I could not preach the free offer of the Gospel or tell people that Jesus loved them. (The inability of these experts to differentiate between Calvinism and hyper-Calvinism is basic to everything they say. What a heretic I’d been!) And I learned that despite my cheery outlook, I am really obsessed with predestination, and have no real good reason to get up in the morning. (Again, if one wants to discuss fatalism, go to the Muslims.) All this free education came to me week after week, courtesy of those who hated Calvinism and feared Calvinists. And all totally false.

Such misunderstandings continue today, though the articulate writings of people like Michael Horton, John Piper and James White are making a difference. I am now meeting people who say they are Calvinists, and really probably aren’t, but they identify with or admire someone who is. Hey, you gotta start somewhere. Even so, I still know that I could lose my job over being a Calvinist, and I know that I will always have to answer ridiculous questions from Arminians who have no idea that they are Arminians or even have a theology. As long as they read Jabez and Left Behind and like Joyce Meyers and T.D. Jakes, they feel normal.

So how can I say it’s cool to be a Calvinist?

1) Calvinism is that rare and wonderful thing: classical, orthodox Christianity. Evangelicals are selling the theological store right and left. I am really grateful for orthodox non-Calvinists like Ravi Zacharias, because the trend on that side of the fence is to sell out the essentials. Omnipotence and omniscience are in trouble. The authority of scripture is in trouble. Biblical worship is in trouble. Postmodern Arminianism seems ready to jettison anything that stands in the way of intellectual acceptance by the cultural elites or the potential drawing of a crowd. Calvinists have their problems, but going the openness route or denying the authority of scripture are not dangers in the near future. That’s cool.

2) Calvinism is fired up about missions. Contrary to the press releases, it is a bunch of Calvinists who are fueling the missions movement among the college age Christian community. The influence of John Piper is massive, and honest Arminians admit it (as they did in the debate I observed.). His book, The Supremacy of God in Missions, has become highly influential in frontier missions circles. Louie Giglio’s Passion movement is God-centered and missions-centered and he has said Piper will always speak at those gatherings. The supreme optimism of Calvinism that God has a people to be called and saved in every nation, and that a sovereign God can move in the Muslim world, is winning the hearts and minds of many young missionaries. Check out http://www.frontiers.org and see what I mean. That is very cool.

3) Calvinism is the strongest resistance to the excesses and errors of the church growth movement. You could deny the Trinity in most pulpits today and not get the kind of reaction you will get if you question the tenets of seeker-sensitive church growth methods. These days Calvinists are less unified on questions of worship and church life than on other areas of theology, but the reformed camp is still the loudest source of resistance to the church growth pragmatism that has overwhelmed evangelicalism. Reformed writers are engaging in a solid examination of Biblical worship and the current crisis and offering a God-centered alternative to the man-centered carnival that is engulfing our churches. Especially see the cool work of Marva Dawn, John Macarthur, James Boice and Michael Horton.

4) Calvinism is contending for the Gospel. Now that will get a few tomatoes headed my way, but I am not saying that Calvinists are the only Christians, nor that Calvinists are the only ones contending for the Gospel. I know that is not the case. I am saying that Calvinists have a passion for the Gospel, particularly for soteriology. There is remarkable unity among Calvinists on the doctrine of total depravity, the primacy of the work of the Trinity in salvation, the effectiveness of the substitutionary work of Christ, the priority of regeneration over faith and the grace of God over all. On the Solas, Calvinists stand strong, even stronger than on the five-points, where there is considerable diversity on the extent of the atonement and the nature of perseverance. The sad fact is that many of our evangelical Arminian friends cannot say the Solas with certainty of an “amen” from their team. The Gospel is under attack on virtually every side within evangelicalism. Some of these are the same controversies that preceded and followed the Reformation, but many are the attacks of post-modernism, pragmatism, multi-culturalism, and liberalism, smuggled in through evangelicalism’s fetish with popularity, publishing, and media. It is refreshing to hear a seminary president like Calvinist Al Mohler consistently contend for the Gospel on Larry King Live in this age of pluralism and tolerance. It’s not an accident. In Calvinistic circles, it’s cool to fight for what others are surrendering.

5) Calvinism is warmly God-centered. Again, hold the bottle throwing. I know, I know. I know there are many non-Calvinists who are God-centered, but I think you have to notice that Calvinism is God-centered by definition, and it simply makes a marvelous difference. Look at the music of Steve Green, the sermons of Al Martin or the books of Douglas Wilson, John Piper, Jerry Bridges or R.C. Sproul. Whether in evangelism, worship, or the Christian life, Calvinists have a suspicion of humanism that is healthy and helpful in retaining the God-centered nature of the Christian faith. It is a marvelous simplicity in Calvinism that says anything we do or contemplate or consider must first put the sovereign God of the Bible as the reference, goal, and center of everything. The vision of God that animated Luther and Calvin, Spurgeon and Edwards is the same vision that is animating Calvinism today. The impulse that is causing havoc in evangelical circles today is a dethroning of God, and the resulting mess seems to be headed down the path that leads to the generic, new age, feelings-centered spirituality that grows like kudzu in America. It’s cool to be God-centered, and there is no area of contemporary Christianity where the air breathed in Piper’s The Pleasures of God or Carson’s The Gagging of God or Packer’s Knowing God isn’t badly needed.

There’s lots more I could say. Calvinism is evangelistic, when practiced and not just debated. (Ask those Korean Presbyterians.) Calvinism has a wonderful reverence for history. Calvinism has the best approach to cultural issues. Calvinism isn’t detoured into fads like Jabez, Experiencing God, or Left Behind. Calvinists have Spurgeon. Calvinists are great apologists. Calvinists aren’t on television. Well, D. James Kennedy on TBN, but thank God for that. Calvinists have the best preachers. If Benny Hinn were a Calvinist, he’d have better hair. I think I should stop.

Are there negatives? Certainly, but this is an infomercial, so I am supposed to say all those really fast at the end so you won’t hear them. They would include: Calvinists debate too much and do too little. Calvinists don’t start enough churches. Calvinists fight about the stupidest things. Calvinists go overboard on anything they are right about. Calvinists have more than their share of loons. Calvinists spend too much on books. I’d better stop. Even with all this, trust me, it’s cool to be a Calvinist.

Sometimes Calvinists spend too much time trying to argue their friends into Calvinism. That is a waste of time. I don’t want to convert you. I just wanted to brag, and perhaps suggest that in this postmodern swamp we are living in, we might want to remember that all the criticism of Calvinism within evangelicalism is coming from a house that needs to get itself in order before it throws rocks at its own team.

When I am Weak
Why we must embrace our brokenness and never be good Christians
by Michael Spencer

The voice on the other end of the phone told a story that has become so familiar to me, I could have almost finished it from the third sentence. A respected and admired Christian leader, carrying the secret burden of depression, had finally broken under the crushing load of holding it all together. As prayer networks in our area begin to make calls and send e-mails, the same questions are asked again and again. “How could this happen? How could someone who spoke so confidently of God, someone whose life gave such evidence of Jesus’ presence, come to the point of a complete breakdown? How can someone who has the answers for everyone one moment, have no answers for themselves the next?”

Indeed. Why are we, after all that confident talk of “new life,” “new creation,” “the power of God,” “healing,” “wisdom,” “miracles,” “the power of prayer,” …why are we so weak? Why do so many “good Christian people,” turn out to be just like everyone else? Divorced. Depressed. Broken. Messed up. Full of pain and secrets. Addicted, needy and phony. I thought we were different.

It’s remarkable, considering the tone of so many Christian sermons and messages, that any church has honest people show up at all. I can’t imagine that any religion in the history of humanity has made as many clearly false claims and promises as evangelical Christians in their quest to say that Jesus makes us better people right now. With their constant promises of joy, power, contentment, healing, prosperity, purpose, better relationships, successful parenting and freedom from every kind of oppression and affliction, I wonder why more Christians aren’t either being sued by the rest of humanity for lying or hauled off to a psych ward to be examined for serious delusions.

Evangelicals love a testimony of how screwed up I USED to be. They aren’t interested in how screwed up I am NOW. But the fact is, that we are screwed up. Then. Now. All the time in between and, it’s a safe bet to assume, the rest of the time we’re alive. But we will pay $400 to go hear a “Bible teacher” tell us how we are only a few verses, prayers and cds away from being a lot better. And we will set quietly, or applaud loudly, when the story is retold. I’m really better now. I’m a good Christian. I’m not a mess anymore. I’m different from other people.

What a crock. Please. Call this off. It’s making me sick. I mean that. It’s affecting me. I’m seeing, in my life and the lives of others, a commitment to lying about our condition that is absolutely pathological. Evangelicals call Bill Clinton a big-time liar about sex? Come on. How many nodding “good Christians” have so much garbage sitting in the middle of their lives that the odor makes it impossible to breathe without gagging. How many of us are addicted to food, porn and shopping? How many of us are depressed, angry, unforgiving and just plain mean? How many of us are a walking, talking course on basic hypocrisy, because we just can’t look at ourselves in the mirror and admit what we a collection of brokenness we’ve become WHILE we called ourselves “good Christians” who want to “witness” to others. Gack. I’m choking just writing this.

You people with your Bibles. Look something up for me? Isn’t almost everyone in that book screwed up? I mean, don’t the screwed up people- like Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Hosea- outnumber the “good Christians” by about ten to one? And isn’t it true that the more we get to look at a Biblical character close up, the more likely it will be that we’ll see a whole nasty collection of things that Christians say they no longer have to deal with because, praise God! I’m fixed? Not just a few temper tantrums or ordinary lies, but stuff like violence. Sex addictions. Abuse. Racism. Depression. It’s all there, yet we still flop our Bibles open on the pulpit and talk about “Ten Ways To Have Joy That Never Goes Away!” Where is the laugh track?

What was that I heard? “Well….we’re getting better. That’s sanctification. I’ve been delivered!” I suppose some of us are getting better. For instance, my psycho scary temper is better than it used to be. Of course, the reason my temper is better, is that in the process of cleaning up the mess I’ve made of my family with my temper, I’ve discovered about twenty other major character flaws that were growing, unchecked, in my personality. I’ve inventoried the havoc I’ve caused in this short life of mine, and it turns out “temper problem” is way too simple to describe the mess that is me. Sanctification? Yes, I no longer have the arrogant ignorance to believe that I’m always right about everything, and I’m too embarrassed by the general sucktitude of my life to mount an angry fit every time something doesn’t go my way. Getting better? Quite true. I’m getting better at knowing what a wretched wreck I really amount to, and it’s shut me up and sat me down.

I love this passage of scripture. I don’t know why know one believes it, but I love it.

2 Corinthians 4:7-11 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Let me attempt a slight retelling of the text, more in line with the Christianity of our time.

But we have this treasure in saved, healed, delivered and supernaturally changed vessels, to show that God has given to us, right now, His surpassing power over ever situation. We are no longer afflicted, perplexed, in conflict or defeated. No, we are alive with the power of Jesus, and the resurrection power of Jesus has changed us now…TODAY! In every way!. God wants you to see just what a Jesus-controlled person is all about, so the power of Jesus is on display in the life I am living, and those who don’t have this life, are miserable and dying.

Contextual concerns aside, let’s read Paul’s words as a basic “reality board” to the Christian life.

We’re dying. Life is full of pain and perplexity. We have Christ, and so, in the future, his life will manifest in us in resurrection and glory. In the present, that life manifests in us in this very odd, contradictory experience. We are dying, afflicted, broken, hurting, confused…yet we hold on to Jesus in all these things, and continue to love him and believe in him. The power of God is in us, not in making us above the human, but allowing us to be merely human, yet part of a new creation in Jesus.

What does this mean?

It means your depression isn’t fixed. It means you are still overwieght. It means you still want to look at porn. It means you are still frightened of dying, reluctant to tell the truth and purposely evasive when it comes to responsibility. It means you can lie, cheat, steal, even do terrible things, when you are ‘in the flesh,” which, in one sense, you always are. If you are a Christian, it means you are frequently, maybe constantly miserable, and it means you are involved in a fight for Christ to have more influence in your life than your broken, screwed up, messed up humanity. In fact, the greatest miracle is that with all the miserable messes in your life, you still want to have Jesus as King, because it’s a lot of trouble, folks. It isn’t a picnic.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Here is even more undeniable, unarguable language. Weaknesses are with me for the whole journey. Paul was particularly thinking of persecutions, but how much more does this passage apply to human frailty, brokenness and hurt? How essential is it for us to be broken, if Christ is going to be our strength? When I am weak I am strong. Not, “When I am cured,” or “When I am successful,” or “When I am a good Christian,” but when I am weak. Weakness- the human experience of weakness- is God’s blueprint for exalting and magnifying his Son. When broken people, miserably failing people, continue to belong to, believe in and worship Jesus, God is happy.

Now, the upper gallery is full of people who are getting upset, certain that this essay is one of those pieces where I am in the mood to tell everyone to go sin themselves up, read Capon and forget about sanctification. You should know me better by now.

The problem is a simple one of semantics. Or perhaps a better way to say it is imagination. How do we imagine the life of faith? What does living faith look like? Does it look like the “good Christian,” “whole person,” “victorious life” version of the Christian life?

Faith, alive in our weakness, looks like a war. An impossible war, against a far superior adversary: our own sinful, fallen nature. Faith fights this battle. Piper loves this verse from Romans, and I do, too. But I need to explain why, because it can sound like the “victorious” life is not Jesus’ life in the Gospel, but me “winning at life” or some other nonsense.

Romans 8:13 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put (are putting) to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

The complexity resides right here: Faith is discontentment with what I am, and satisfaction with all God is for me in Jesus. The reason that description works so well for me is that it tells us the mark of saving faith is not just resting passively in the promises of the Gospel (though that is exactly what justification does), but this ongoing war with the reality of my condition. Unless I am reading Romans 8 wrongly, my fight is never finished, because my sinful, messed-up human experience isn’t finished until death and resurrection. That fight- acceptance and battle- is the normal life of the believer. I fight. Jesus will finish the work. I will groan, and do battle, climb the mountain of Holiness with wounds and brokenness and holy battle scars, but I will climb it, since Christ is in me. The Gospel assures victory, but to say I stand in a present victory as I “kill” sin is a serious wrong turn.

What does this fight look like? It is a bloody mess, I’m telling you. There is a lot of failure in it. It is not an easy way to the heavenly city. It is a battle where we are brought down again, and again and again. Brought down by what we are, and what we continually discover ourselves to be. And we only are “victorious” in the victory of Jesus, a victory that is ours by faith, not by sight. In fact, that fight is probably described just as accurately by the closing words of Romans 7 as by the “victorious” words of Romans 8.

Romans 7:23-25 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

I fall down. I get up….and believe. Over and over again. That’s as good as it gets in this world. This life of faith, is a battle full of weakness and brokenness. The only soldiers in this battle are wounded ones. There are moments of total candor- I am a “wretched man” living in a “body” of death. Denying this, spinning this, ignoring this or distorting this reality is nothing but trouble in the true Christian experience. The sin we are killing in Romans 8 is, in a sense, ourselves. Not some demon or serpent external to us. Our battle is with ourselves, and embracing this fact is the compass and foundation of the Gospel’s power in our lives.

(In my opinion, the Wesleyan-Pentecostal-Charismatic-Holiness misreading of this passage is a very serious miscue in healthy Christianity. What lands us in churches where we are turned into the cheering section for personal victory over everything is denying that faith is an ongoing battle that does not end until Jesus ends it. Those who stand up and claim victory may be inviting us to celebrate a true place in their experience at the time, but it isn’t the whole person, the whole story, or all that accurate. They are still a mess. Count on it. This battle- and the victories in it- are fought by very un-victorious Christians.

I will be accused of a serious lack of good news, I’m sure, so listen. At the moment I am winning, Jesus is with me. At the moment I am losing, Jesus is with me and guarantees that I will get up and fight on. At the moment I am confused, wounded and despairing, Jesus is with me. I never, ever lose the brokenness. I fight, and sometimes I prevail, but more and more of my screwed up, messed up life erupts. Each battle has the potential to be the last, but because I belong to one whose resurrection guarantees that I will arrive safely home in a new body and a new creation, I miraculously, amazingly, find myself continuing to believe, continuing to move forward, till Jesus picks us up and takes us home.

Now, let’s come to something very important here. This constant emphasis on the “victorious life” or “good Christian life” is absolutely the anti-Christ when it comes to the Gospel. If I am _________________ (fill in the blank with victorious life terminology) then I am oriented to be grateful for what Jesus did THEN, but I’m needing him less and less in the NOW. I want to make sure he meets me at the gate on the way into heaven, but right now, I’m signing autographs. I’m a good Christian. This imagining of the Christian journey will kill us.

We need our brokenness. We need to admit it and know it is the real, true stuff of our earthly journey in a fallen world. It’s the cross on which Jesus meets us. It is the incarnation he takes up for us. It’s what his hands touch when he holds us. Do you remember this story? It’s often been told, but oh how true it is as a GOSPEL story (not a law story.) It is a Gospel story about Jesus and how I experience him in this “twisted” life.

In his book Mortal Lessons (Touchstone Books, 1987) physician Richard Selzer describes a scene in a hospital room after he had performed surgery on a young woman’s face: I stand by the bed where the young woman lies . . . her face, postoperative . . . her mouth twisted in palsy . . . clownish. A tiny twig of the facial nerve, one of the muscles of her mouth, has been severed. She will be that way from now on. I had followed with religious fervor the curve of her flesh, I promise you that. Nevertheless, to remove the tumor in her cheek, I had cut this little nerve. Her young husband is in the room. He stands on the opposite side of the bed, and together they seem to be in a world all their own in the evening lamplight . . . isolated from me . . .private.

Who are they? I ask myself . . . he and this wry mouth I have made, who gaze at and touch each other so generously. The young woman speaks. “Will my mouth always be like this?” she asks. “Yes,” I say, “it will. It is because the nerve was cut.” She nods and is silent. But the young man smiles. “I like it,” he says, “it’s kind of cute.” All at once I know who he is. I understand, and I lower my gaze. One is not bold in an encounter with the divine. Unmindful, he bends to kiss her crooked mouth, and I am so close I can see how he twists his own lips to accommodate to hers. . . to show her that their kiss still works.

This is who Jesus has always been. And if you think you are getting to be a great kisser or are looking desirable, I feel sorry for you. He wraps himself around our hurts, our brokenness and our ugly, ever-present sin. Those of you who want to draw big, dark lines between my humanity and my sin, go right ahead, but I’m not joining you. It’s all ME. And I need Jesus so much to love me like I really am: brokenness, memories, wounds, sins, addictions, lies, death, fear….all of it. Take all it, Lord Jesus. If I don’t present this broken, messed up person to Jesus, my faith is dishonest, and my understanding of it will become a way of continuing the ruse and pretense of being “good.”

Now I want to talk about why this is important. We must begin to accept who we are, and bring a halt to the sad and repeated phenomenon of lives that are crumbling into pieces because the only Christian experience they know about is one that is a lie. We are infected with something that isn’t the Gospel, but a version of a religious life; an entirely untruthful version that drives genuine believers into the pit of despair and depression because, contrary to the truth, God is “against” them, rather than for them.

The verse says, “When I am weak, then I am strong- in Jesus.” It does not say “When I am strong, then I am strong, and you’ll know because Jesus will get all the credit.” Let me use two examples, and I hope neither will be offensive to those who might read and feel they recognize the persons described.

Many years ago, I knew a man who was a vibrant and very public Christian witness. He was involved in the “lay renewal” movement in the SBC, which involved a lot of giving testimonies of “what God was doing in your life.” (A phrase I could do without.) He was well-known for being a better speaker than most preachers, and he was an impressive and persuasive lay speaker. His enthusiasm for Christ was convincing.

He was also a well known serial adulterer. Over and over, he strayed from his marriage vows, and scandalized his church and its witness in the community. When confronted, his response was predictable. He would visit the Pentecostals, and return claiming to have been delivered of the “demons of lust” that had caused him to sin. And life would go on. As far as I know, the cycle continued, unabated, for all the time I knew about him.

I understand that the church today needs- desperately- to hear experiential testimonies of the power of the Gospel. I understand that it is not good news to say we are broken and are going to stay that way. I know there will be little enthusiasm for saying sanctification consists, in large measure, in seeing our sin, and acknowledging what it is and how deep and extensive it has marred us. I doubt that the triumphalists will agree with me that the fight of faith is not a victory party, but a bloody war on a battlefield that resembles Omaha Beach more than a Beach party.

But that’s the way it is. I’m right on this one.

I write this piece particularly concerned for pastors. I am moved and distressed that so many of them, most of all, are unable to admit their humanity, and their brokenness. In silence, they carry the secret, then stand in the pulpit and present a Gospel that is true, but a Christian experience that is far from true.

Then, from time to time, they fall. Into adultery, like the pastor of one of our state’s largest churches. A wonderful man, who kept a mistress for years rather than admit a problem millions of us share: faulty, imperfect marriages. Where is he now, I wonder? And where are so many others I’ve known and heard of who fell under the same weight? Their lives are lost to the cause of the Kingdom because they are just like the rest of us?

(I’m not rejecting Biblical standards for leadership. I am suggesting we need a Biblical view of humanity when we read those passages. Otherwise we are going to turn statements like “rules his household well” into a disqualification to every human being on the planet.)

I hear of those who are depressed. Where do they turn for help? How do they admit their hurt? It seems so “unChristian” to admit depression, yet it is a reality for millions and millions of human beings. Porn addiction. Food addiction. Rage addiction. Obsessive needs for control. Chronic lying and dishonesty. How many pastors and Christian leaders live with these human frailties and flaws, and never seek help because they can’t admit what we all know is true about all of us? They speak of salvation, love and Jesus, but inside they feel like the damned.

Multiply this by the hundreds of millions of broken Christians. They are merely human, but their church says they must be more than human to be good Christians. They cannot speak of or even acknowledge their troubled lives. Their marriages are wounded. Their children are hurting. They are filled with fear and the sins of the flesh. They are depressed and addicted, yet they can only approach the church with the lie that all is well, and if it becomes apparent that all is not well, they avoid the church.

I do not blame the church for this situation. It is always human nature to avoid the mirror and prefer the self-portrait. I blame all of us who know better. We know this is not the message of the Gospels, the Bible or of Jesus. But we- every one of us- is afraid to live otherwise. What if someone knew we were not a good Christian? Ah…what if…what if….

I close with a something I have said many times before. The Prodigal son, there on his knees, his father’s touch upon him, was not a “good” or “victorious” Christian. He was broken. A failure. He wasn’t even good at being honest. He wanted religion more than grace. His father baptized him in mercy, and resurrected him in grace. His brokenness was wrapped up in the robe and the embrace of God.

Why do we want to be better than that boy? Why do we make the older brother the goal of Christian experience? Why do we want to add our own addition to the parable, where the prodigal straightens out and becomes a successful youth speaker, writing books and doing youth revivals?

Lutheran writer Herman Sasse, in a meditation on Luther’s last words, “We are beggars. This is true,” puts it perfectly:

Luther asserted the very opposite: “Christ dwells only with sinners.” For the sinner and for the sinner alone is His table set. There we receive His true body and His true blood “for the forgiveness of sins” and this holds true even if forgiveness has already been received in Absolution. That here Scripture is completely on the side of Luther needs no further demonstration. Every page of the New Testament is indeed testimony of the Christ whose proper office it is “to save sinners”, “to seek and to save the lost”. And the entire saving work of Jesus, from the days when He was in Galilee and, to the amazement and alarm of the Pharisees, ate with tax collectors and sinners; to the moment when he, in contradiction with the principles of every rational morality, promised paradise to the thief on the cross, yes, His entire life on earth, from the cradle to the Cross, is one, unique grand demonstration of a wonder beyond all reason: The miracle of divine forgiveness, of the justification of the sinner. “Christ dwells only in sinners.”